If the current Iraqi Prime Minister fails to agree to increase dialogue with other political entities in Iraq, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is most likely to be nominated to the post at the upcoming unity meeting, a senior Kurdish official told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview.

“Our first goal is to create a new channel of dialogue with [Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki to make him consider the other political parties in Iraq. However, if we don’t succeed in this our alternative is to remove al-Maliki and ask the National Iraqi Alliance to nominate someone,” said Cafer Ibrahim, spokesperson for the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who was Prime Minister in the Iraqi Transitional Government from 2005 to 2006, can be an alternative to al-Maliki, Ibrahim said.

Arbil meeting on May 7

Leaders from almost all of Iraq’s top political blocs will convene at a unity meeting in Arbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region, on May 7, in order to find a solution to the political crisis between the Shiite-led government and the country’s Sunnis and Kurds. KRG leader Masoud Barzani, Iraq’s fugitive Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, Shiite Sadrist leader Muqtada al-Sadr and other political figures are expected to attend the meeting. “We have done so much about the cabinet of al-Maliki, however, Iraqi people are suffering right now (from the political crisis). Now we have invited all the political parties to the meeting to reach a national solution in Iraq,” Ibrahim said. If the group can make Prime Minister al-Maliki come down to the Arbil meeting and come to an agreement, then they could move forward to next step of creating a solution in the cabinet, Ibrahim said. “If we can not succeed in this, our alternative is to remove al-Maliki. We estimate the right person that all the groups, including the Sunni Al Iraqiye group and the Kurds, can agree upon will be Ibrahim al-Jaafari. He is acceptable by everyone,” said Ibrahim.